AFI Summit of Little Ambaasors - Children Promotoing Peace 2015

Ariel Foundation International and Ariana-Leilani Children’s Foundation International

CHILDREN PROMOTING PEACE SUMMIT

At the United Nations 29th Human Rights Council (2015)

About Ariel Foundation international and Ariel Foundation International (AFI) has been dedicated to children and youth since 2000 and formally organised in 2002. AFI promotes leadership, entrepreneurship and community service works wide. The foundation works with children and youth.

“If I am not for myself, Who will be for me? If I am only for myself, What am I? If not now, Then when?” – Hillel Ariana-Leilani Children’s Foundation international The Ariana-Leilani Children’s Foundation International (ALCF) was formed in 2008 to educate and advocate for children's human rights, and their participation to realise them with the United Nations on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) as the foundation. ”Nothing about us, without us” Photography by AFI, Ariella King, Sandra Heminger and Cheryl Bretherton Sanders Summit Organizer: Dr. Ariella (Ariel) Rosita King Summit Associates: Cheryl Sanders, Sandra Heminger, Svenn Kuchen, Report Published by Ariana-Leilani Children’s Foundation Ariel Foundation International Editor: Megan Smith and Editor in Chief: Dr. Ariel (Ariella) Rosita King ISBN: 978-0-9964523-4-2 4, Chemin des Papillons CH - 1216 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 534 94 41 Fax: +41 22 580 22 27 Email: info@arielfoundation.org Websites: www.ArielFoundation.org www.youthsummit-un.org www.ariana-leilanifoundation.org

2

DEDICATION OF THIS REPORT ON CHILDREN PROMOTING PEACE ON UNIVERSAL CHILDRENS DAY 20 NOVEMBER 2015 ARIANA-LEILANI CHILDREN’S FOUNDATION EDUCATING AND ADVOCATION FOR CHILDREN’S HUMAN RIGHTS

“LITTLE AMBASSADOR ARIANA-LEILANI” ARIANA-LEILANI MARGARITA ALEXANDER KING-PFEIFFER, 12 YEARS OLD

3

Table of Contents Foreword

5

Discussions War and Peace Children in War Children Promoting Peace Steps to Peace The United Nations The Human Rights Council

6

Presentations

10

Cartooning for Peace

15

Delegates

18

Moving Forward

21

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

22

4

Acknowledgements Children Promoting Peace Summit organised and facilitated

by Ariel Foundation International and Ariana-Leilani Children’s Foundation.

Delegates: Addison Radford Anya Roschke Ariana-Leilani King-Pfeiffer* Brent Roschke Gaia Maralla Joshua Macdonald Juliette Lacombe Karla Heminger, Sweden Laura Koechlin Maja Heminger Ryan Radford *Unable to attend, but represented Special Thank you to Cheryl Sanders, Sandra Heminger, David Pentscheff, Hani Abbas and Dr Ariella King for volunteering their time to ensure the success of the Summit.

United Nations 29th Human Rights Council Side Event Summit on Children Promoting Peace – Video of the day by Svenn Kuchen. https://youtu.be/PM9sxoOOPg8

5

Forward On the Monday 15 June 2015, young representatives, aged between 7 and 14, met at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland in order to discuss the vital role that children can and should play in promoting global peace.

Whilst at the United Nations the delegates of the Promoting Peace Summit also attended the Opening Session of the 29th Human Rights Council.

This report contains extracts of the young delegates’ discussions and presentations, unfettered by rules or interventions, in an environment in which they were encouraged to speak freely and openly.

6

Participation in discussions concerning global issues and having those discussions heard should not be an inaccessible opportunity for most children; instead it should be seen as a human right for children of all backgrounds and ages.

In order to create active citizens who are able to shape the future they want to see, children must be engaged at the earliest possible opportunity. The global community should recognise the young’s ability to understand the issues that they and others face.

7

DELEGATES – Promoting Peace Addison Radford, 12, Co-Chair Hello. My name is Addie Radford and I moved from Paris, Virginia in the United States to Paris, France in the past year. I am 12 and half years old. I attend the International School of Paris (ISP). I love reading, animals, soccer, drama, art and little kids.

Anya Roschke, 11 Hello! My name is Anya Roschke and I am 11 years old. I currently live in Paris, France but I was born in New York. In Paris, I go to the school at the International School of Paris (ISP). I love riding horses, playing violin and dancing.

Ariana Leilani King-Pfeiffer, 12 Hi, my name is Ariana-Leilani, but everyone calls me Ariana.

I am 12 years old and in 7th grade. I speak English and German. My favorite subjects are Math and Science. Also I sing in the school choir. I love my dog, Will, and would like to learn to ride horses. My favorite color is purple.

Brent Roschke, 8, Co-Chair Hi! I am Brent. I am 8 years old. I come from New York and now I live in Paris, France. I like math, tennis, cello, rubiks cube and science. I am happy to be at this UN meeting.

Gaia Maralla, 13 Gaia was born in London in 2002. Her mother is French and her father is Italian. She has lived some years in London, then 2 years in Milan and she is in Geneva since 2007. She has attended only a semester at Ecolint Nation, then she moved to Ecoling LGB where she has been attending all grades: she is now in 8th grade, last grade of Middle School.

Joshua Macdonald, 8 Joshua is eight years old and lives in the north of England. He has a younger sister called Isabella. His favourite sports are tennis and football. Josh likes reading books and comics. He loves eating haribos but doesn't like tomatoes or mushrooms. Josh also likes to collect gemstones and fossils. He is a member of a tennis and football club as well as being part of the boy Scouts. Joshua's main language is English but he is also learning Spanish and French.

Joshua would like to be a tennis player when he is older.

8

DELEGATES – Promoting Peace Juliette Lacombe de Repentigny, 11 Hi, my name is Juliette Lacombe de Repentigny and I am 11 years old. I come from Montreal, Canada and I live in Paris. French is my mother tongue, but I go to the International School of Paris where all classes are in English. I like to play football (soccer), video games (especially the Professor Layton series and Club Penguin) and I also like to read. I prefer adventure and mystery novels.

Karla Heminger, 7 My name is Karla. I am 7 years old. I am a girl. I have 2 sisters, my biggest sister is 8 and my little sister is 5. I live in Geneva. My favourite colour is yellow. I’m not in war I am in peace. I don’t like war I just like peace. I’m from London. I speak Swedish, English and a little French. I like baked potatoes. I like swimming. I like my school. I don’t like war because they kill people.

Laura Koechlin, 10 Hello, my name is Laura Koechlin. I am 10 and I live in Scotland with my mum, dad and little sister Amelie. I like all sorts of animals.

I also really like dancing and I do tap, modern and ballet. I love singing and drama and doing talent shows.

Maja Heminger, 8 My name is Maja and I have 2 sisters and a mother and a father.

My mother comes from Sweden and my daddy comes from USA. I was born in London and so were my sisters. I am 8 years old and I live in Geneva. I’m happy to live here and have peace like other countries don’t. My favourite kind of sport is ice skating and I like my family and my favourite coulour is blue and my favourite animals are horses and dolphins. My favourite singer is Taylor Swift.

I’m here to talk about peace or war.

Ryan Radford, 9 My name is Ryan and I am 9 and half years old. I moved to Paris, France this year from the state of Virginia in the United States. I love reading, skiing, math and computers. I also love to sing and play the drums.

9

ASSOCIATES FOR CHILEREN PROMOTING PEACE Photo right to left: Ms. Cheryl Sanders, Ms. Sandra Heminger, Mr. Hani Abbas Mr. David Pentscheff, Dr. Ariella (Ariel) King and Mr. Svenn Kuchen (not in photo).

Delegates of the Human Rights Council Ms. Meghan Radford and Ms. Robin Roschke

10

Discussions 1. War and Peace “Peace is important.”

“Peace is better than war because if it just make everything right and you don’t, I think war probably started just from a little argument and then got bigger and bigger until it came to death and war.”

“I think peace is better than war because war kills people, and peace does not kill people.”

“I think that everyone should be aware that there is war and that they should find ways to create peace. Or be aware that there is, or that they can do something to change.”

“I think peace is a mutual agreement on both sides, each party does not necessarily have to be happy with this arrangement.

But, at least they agree. This isn't love, this isn't war.”

“War is horrible and bad for people.”

11

2. Children in War “I find it kind of weird that some that they actually force kids, that they actually force kids to go out into war for, to fight like soldiers and sometimes even kill other children.”

“I think you are right and they shouldn’t do also, work, like children work, working in factories, or stuff like this.”

“They should be educated first and do their jobs when they are adults.”

3. Steps to Peace “More awareness.”

“I think that if people were more aware of children and what is going on that they would help and continue to support organizations like this so future generations do not have to live through war and can live with something different and have happiness.”

“Hopefully countries don’t try to get angry at each other; they should try to keep good relationships and if something happens they should try to come and talk it out. Today was a talk between two parties from a country and I think that they should continue doing that so that so that there is less war and less people get hurt and lose their homes and families.”

12

3. Children Promoting Peace “I think children could prevent war by doing these acts like actually like spreading the word and like saying like, or you could just write like News Papers or like flyers saying: “I don’t want more war – will you help me or will you let war continue?”

“I think children should talk about peace to their class and do activities or stuff like this so that everyone is aware of there is peace and how they can make peace happening in the world.”

“The children who are born in war and are going to die in war they should also know how the world is outside of war so maybe they can encourage other people.”

“I think that peace should be known to everyone and that everyone should try to make peace happen even if it’s hard.”

“I think that people should be more alert and have better security because like take Kenya for example there is a lot of terrorism. So I think we can improve on defenses and people could be aware that war is going to happen so that people could be on the look out and they could be expecting it so they are not as chocked.”

“Children should be nice to each other to make the world a better place and that they will learn to be nice as adults.”

“In a peaceful world, children can create healthy relationships and collaborate together.”

5. The United Nations

13

“I think the UN is actually a very good idea because if we didn’t have the UN we probably would have we would be inside world war V or something.”

“It’s like in Syria, that’s why they have war because they didn’t listen to each other, they just wanted to do what they wanted, so I think if they went to the UN I think it would have been better.”

6. The Human Rights Council “Today I saw peace being arranged in different rooms through words instead of war.”

“Today I saw people caring about other countries beside their own and people working together to achieve something greater than war and many people trying to help others.”

“Today I saw peace being made through mutual agreements among countries and other countries being helpful and helping countries that are not their own to accomplish peace.”

“Today I saw organizations like the UN helping resolve conflict between countries and trying to make the world a better place where people don’t get injured as much and there is not as much fear in the world. So I think that that is a good thing and I hope that people continue doing it and maybe become more aware of the UN and other organizations like this.”

14

Delegates Presentations

15

WHAT IS PEACE? What does it mean to you?

By Addison Radford, (12)

16

CHILD PEACE AND WORKING TOGETHER

By Brent Roschke (8)

17

IT’S TIME FOR PEACE, By Maja Heminger (8)

18

WAR AND PEACE, By Karla Heminger (7)

19

Cartooning for Peace

Hani Abbas believes that “A cartoon can change a destiny.” He is a Syrian-Palestinian cartoonist, born in 1977 in the large Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, near Damascus in Syria. In 2012, he posted on Facebook a cartoon showing the flower that symbolizes the Syrian Revolution as immortal. Syrian Secret Services immediately threatened him.

Hani Abbas had to flee Syria and seek for asylum in Switzerland. He is now settled in Switzerland and keeps denouncing Wars’ atrocities in cartoons. In May 2014, he was awarded the Editorial Cartoon International Prize (Prix International du Dessin de Presse) by Kofi Annan in Geneva. He is married with two children.

20

21

A

22

Moving Forward This report will go to the Human Rights Council President, The Committee on the Rights of the Child and to other agencies to inform them of the important issues taken up by the children delegates.

The next children's summit will be 2 October 2015 entitled AFI Children in Human Rights.

23

There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children. Nelson Mandela

24